Images from the TVA sludge spill cleanup

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - Matt Landon a member of United Mountain Defense, a nonprofit organization committed to halting mountaintop removal coal mining in Tennessee, filmed work being done on Swan Pond Circle Road.

A pile of ruble sits where the Schean & Flinn house ended up in the middle of Swann Pond Road on a foundation of dirt and ash from the burst holding pond. Workers are working from the west end of Swann Pond Road to remove the ash and debris from the road.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - The James house on the east bank of the Emory River was heavily damaged when a dike at the TVA Kington fossil fuel power plant broke.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - Construction equipment works its way across the spill of fly ash and water from Swann Pond Road.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - The dock at the Sewell home on the east bank of the Emory River was damaged when a dike at the TVA Kingston fossil fuel power plant broke sending over a billion gallons of water and fly ash into the Emory River. The Sewell lives directly across the river from where the dike broke. The wave runner personnel water craft was washed onto their dock from another dock down stream.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - Gail Sewell a Emory River Road resident stands on her deck. Sewell lives on the East bank of the Emory River across from where the dike at the TVA Kingston power plant burst. The wave from the dike bursting wrecked her dock.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009 - The dock at the Sewell home on the east bank of the Emory River was damaged when a dike at the TVA Kingston fossil fuel power plant broke sending over a billion gallons of water and fly ash into the Emory River.

Monday, Jan. 5, 2000 - Foot crews clean up the shore line and lawns behind homes on Gunters Way on the east bank of the Emory River.

Monday, Jan. 5, 2000 - Foot crews clean up the shore line and lawns behind homes on Gunters Way on the east bank of the Emory River.

Monday, Jan. 5, 2000 - Foot crews clean up the shore line and lawns behind homes on Gunters Way on the east bank of the Emory River.

Friday, Jan. 2, 2008 - Crews are starting to replace the rail line into the Kingston Steam Plant. They are moving pre fabricated sections of track into place. The sections arrive at the Swan Pond Road site by truck.

Friday, Jan. 2, 2008 - Crews are starting to replace the rail line into the Kingston Steam Plant.

Friday, Jan. 2, 2008 - Crews begin to replace the rail line into the Kingston steam plant on Friday near Harriman. The line was severed by the spill of fly ash from a TVA retention pond on Dec. 22. They are moving pre-fabricated sections of track into place in an effort to restore rail service to the plant.

Friday, Jan. 2, 2008 - Construction workers look on as a tracked hoe clears out around the James Schean and Crystell Flinn home. The house was pushed off of its foundation when the retention pond burst at the Kingston Steam Plant on Dec. 22, spreading more than a billion gallons of fly ash mixed with water over roughly 300 acres of Roane County and into a river.

Friday, Jan. 2, 2008 - Troy Beets, mayor of Kingston, drinks a glass of water from his home. Mayor Beets wanted to show his faith in the purity and reliability in the City Water System.

Friday, Jan. 2, 2008 - Kingston Steam Plant Manager Ron Hall.

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 - Kim Harris, a resident of Swan Pond Circle talked with the press after the Governor of Tennessee Phil Bredesen held a press conference at the Joint Information Group in Roane County. Harris lives in an area that has been impacted by the 1.1 billion gallons of water and ash that burst from a failed retention pond for the TVA Kingston steam plant.

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 - Workers for General Restoration Services, Lajuana Stranes, left, and Amy Smith, right, clean up Wednesday at the home of Perry James, one of the houses swamped by the TVA sludge spill. The workers were packing the personal belongings of the James family.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - An amphibious hoe digs a channel through the water and ash that burst from a failed retention pond for the TVA Kingston steam plant.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 - The arms of heavy construction equipment are visible over the mounds of sludge as the tracked hoes clear Swam Pond Road and the rail road tracks that were flooded by a TVA sludge spill.

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 - Governor Phil Bredesen held a press conference today with the Joint Information group to explain the cleanup aspects to dealing with the area impacted by the 1.1 billion gallons of water and ash that burst from a failed retention pond for the TVA Kingston steam plant on Dec. 22, leaving some nearby residents homeless and others fretting about the possible effects on their health.

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 - A Press conference with the Governor of Tennessee and and the Joint Information group to explain the clean up aspects to dealing with the area impacted by the 1.1 billion gallons of water and ash that burst from a failed retention pond for the TVA Kingston steam plant on Dec. 22, leaving some nearby residents homeless and others fretting about the possible effects on their health.

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and state officials held a press conference Wednesday after touring the site of the Dec. 22 ash pond spill. Standing behind Bredesen is Jim Fyke with the Tennessee Dept of Environment and Conservation.

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen and state officials held a press confrence Wednesday after touring the site of the Dec. 22 ash pond spill. Standing behind Bredesen is Commissioner Susan Cooper with the Tennessee Dept of Health.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Howie Rose of the Roane Co EMA talks about air and water sampling, at today's press conference that explained the technical aspects of the sludge spill cleanup.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Crews using a water spray and booms on the west bank of the Emory River to collect and recover the cenosphere.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Crews setting up a booms on the west bank of the Emory River to collect and recover the cenosphere.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Crews setting up a booms on the west bank of the Emory River to collect and recover the cenosphere.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Lake side home owner Melinda Hillman and her dogs Lucy and Marleena walk along their lake side property.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Ducks move around the booms set up on the lake at the Highway 58 Landing and public park in Kingston.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Neil Carriker, a TVA environmental engineer, uses an aerial photograph of the Kingston Coal plant ash spill to talk about efforts by the Roane County Joint Information Group in the clean-up and monitoring.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Crews setting up vacuum equipment and booms on the west bank of the Emory River to collect and recover the cenosphere.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - A barge with a pump and storage tank moves into place to clean up the shore line at the Highway 58 landing and public park.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Crews using a water spray and booms on the west bank of the Emory River to collect and recover the cenosphere.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Crews setting up vacuum equipment and booms on the west bank of the Emory River to collect and recover the cenosphere.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - A portable air sampling device, left, and a bottle of wet cenosphere.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Crews setting up vacuum equipment and booms on the west bank of the Emory River to collect and recover the cenosphere.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Crews setting up vacuum equipment and booms on the west bank of the Emory River to collect and recover the cenosphere.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Tim Simpson with the Athens Ga. office of the EPA explains what air and water sampling his agency will be doing.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Crews setting up vacuum equipment and booms on the west bank of the Emory River to collect and recover the cenosphere.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - An Army Corp of Engineers boat moves down the west bank of the Emory River across from where the main spill was last week.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Jerry Crowe of Gunters Way on the East side of the Emory River had his dock destroyed by the surge from the dike rupturing. The Crowe's had a personal water craft washed away by the surge.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Dozens of homes on the East side of the Emory River in Roane County have been impacted by the estimated 1.1 billion gallons of water and ash that burst from a failed retention pond for the TVA Kingston steam plant on Dec. 22, leaving some nearby residents homeless and others fretting about the possible effects on their health.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - An Army Corp of Engineers boat moves past Jerry Crowe's destroyed lake side dock. Crowe lives on Gunters Way on the east side of the Emory River across from where the main spill was last week.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - TVA sub-contractors working on the cleanup of the sludge spill at the 58 Landing park in Kingston are using a vacuum truck to suck up floating sludge.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Dan and Maria Graves look out over the water at the 58 Landing park in Kingston as a pumper vacuum boat is moved down the lake by a TVA sub-contractor working on the cleanup operation.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Workers clean up the scum at the 58 Landing public park in Kingston.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Workers clean up the scum at the 58 Landing public park in Kingston.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Floating ash and debris on the East bank of the Emory River.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Floating ash on the East bank of the Emory River.

December 29, 2008 - Ash floats on the water at the 58 Landing public park in Kingston.

December 29, 2008 - Ash floats on the water at the 58 Landing public park in Kingston.

December 29, 2008 - Ducks swim through floating ash residue at the 58 Landing public park downriver from the TVA Kingston Power plant.

December 29, 2008 - Ducks swim through floating ash residue at the 58 Landing public park downriver from the TVA Kingston Power plant.

December 29, 2008 - The James Residence on Swan Pond Road sits on the other side of the sludge field as a group of workers involved in the clean up of the look over the sludge field left when an estimated 1.1 billion gallons of water and ash burst from a failed retention pond for the TVA Kingston steam plant on Dec. 22, leaving some nearby residents homeless and others fretting about the possible effects on their health.

December 29, 2008 - The Watts Bar Riverboat Company has been unable to take out its paddlewheel excursion boat, the Watts Bar Belle, since the Dec. 22 spill, because water from the river is used to cool its engines and a generator. An official with the company said Monday that it looks like they may have to relocate in order to keep the business operating.

December 29, 2008 - This is the eastern wall of the Kingston Fossil Plant dike that breached and spilled sludge onto Swan Pond Road and a railroad track that serviced the steam plant.

December 29, 2008 - Kingston Steam Plant Manager Ron Hall explains how they are constructing a weir dam on the Emory River behind the steam plant to mitigate the flow of ash.

December 29, 2008 - A barge and crane that are building a rock weir dam on the Emory River down stream of the burst ash pond.

December 29, 2008 - Workers and equipment work to clear Swan Pond Road and the Rail Road tracks near the entrance to the TVA Kingston Steam Plant.

December 29, 2008 - TVA environmental Executive Anda Ray.

December 29, 2008 - Dozens of workers and equipment are busy trying to clear an estimated 1.1 billion gallons of water and ash that burst from a failed retention pond for the TVA Kingston steam plant on Dec. 22, leaving some nearby residents homeless and others fretting about the possible effects on their health.

December 29, 2008 - A smoke stack and scrubber stack at the TVA Kingston Steam Plant sit beyond the jagged wall of the ash retention pond that failed last Monday December 22, 2008.

December 29, 2008 - A amphibious track hoe clears a channel for water to drain from the ash and water event at the TVA Kingston Steam Plant.

December 29, 2008 - TVA environmental Executive Anda Ray gives a briefing on TVA efforts to clean up the water and ash spill at the Kingston Steam Plant.